Uruguay, 1987

Playing the role of Uruguayan gaucho ~ Drinking yerba maté, the ubiquitous Southern Cone tea-like treat — Playing the role of Uruguayan gaucho ~ Drinking *yerba mate*, Uruguay’s ubiquitous tea-like treat

I was exceedingly lucky be selected by my high school as an exchange student to Minas, Uruguay during my junior year. Words cannot describe the excitement, the challenge, the thrill, and the difficulty I experienced leaving one world and arriving in another. I returned from Uruguay with new vision, the world in an instant larger, compelling, irresistible. I was ready for more, lots more.

This experience was the defining moment of my teenage years, rooting my wanderlust, and opening my eyes and heart to the Great Out There. Uruguay is forever a part of my soul, my love for my family there and the exhilarating yet poignant memories I hold close to my heart.

My warm & wonderful adoptive Uruguayan family (clockwise from top left): Mamá Lilián, sis Alejandra, bro Jorge, sis Analía — My warm & wonderful adoptive Uruguayan family (clockwise from top left):
Mamá Lilián, sis Alejandra, bro Jorge, sis Analía

In the classroom at the Instituto Eduardo Fabini in Minas

With my Norwegian AFS friend Anne at the Plaza Libertad in Minas

"The return of kidnapped children depends also on you... your signature decides" ~ Sign supporting a referendum to bring the military leaders to trial following a repressive dictatorship that ended in 1985 — *The return of kidnapped children depends also on you… YOUR SIGNATURE DECIDES*
Sign supporting a referendum to bring the military leaders to trial following a repressive dictatorship that ended in 1985

A more formal moment with my family before a fiesta de quinceañera birthday bash — A more formal moment with my family before a *fiesta de quinceañera* birthday bash

This is how I remember my family — all love and warmth!

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